September 2010

The HUB Lancaster District Community and Voluntary Solutions

Fragments a profile of

Lancaster District CVS exists to support local voluntary groups, to encourage them to work together, to provide a link between voluntary and statutory bodies and to

find ways of meeting unmet needs by voluntary action.

CVS Staff

Jane Attfield Ext. 27 Voluntary Sector Development Worker email: janeattfield@lancastercvs.org.uk

Hannah Bland Ext. 26 Voluntary Sector Development Worker email: hannahbland@lancastercvs.org.uk

Kevin Goodall Ext. 24 Information & Publications Officer email: kevingoodall@lancastercvs.org.uk

Penny Darby Ext. 32 Funding Officer email: pennydarby@lancastercvs.org.uk

Friendship Centre

Alys Jenkins Friendship Centre Development Worker email: alysjenkins@lancastercvs.org.uk

Jon Rigby Ext. 20 Chief Officer email: jonrigby@lancastercvs.org.uk

Bill Livesey Ext. 28 Deputy Chief Officer email: billlivesey@lancastercvs.org.uk

Jane Dutton Ext. 20 Office Manager email: janedutton@lancastercvs.org.uk

June Ellis Ext. 25 Finance Officer email: juneellis@lancastercvs.org.uk

Community Learning Network

Debra Hughes CLN Development Worker email: debrahughes@cln-lancaster.org.uk

www.lancastercvs.org.uk mail@lancastercvs.org.uk

Trinity Community Centre Middle Street

Lancaster LA1 1JZ

01524 555900

Charity Registration (England & Wales) Number 1127626 Company Registration (England & Wales) Number 6743623

Registered office as above

Organisations hosted by Lancaster District CVS

Contents 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 10 11 14 15

Contacts Contents Equality Act Harsha Shukla AWA Awards Lancaster District LSP www.lancastercvs.org.uk Mudpack Fragments Funding Opportunities / Fair Shopmobility Training & Events

If you would like The Hub to feature a profile of an organisation or individual, include an article on a current project or have any other information that might be of interest to the members of Lancaster District CVS, call Kevin Goodall on (01524) 555900 extension 24 or

email kevingoodall@lancastercvs.org.uk.

Deadline for articles to include in the December issue of the Hub: Monday 1st November 2010

Funded by

Members of

John Barnes, Morecambe Bay Independent Councillor and the City Council's representative on the Lancaster District CVS Trustee Board, sadly died on Saturday 17th July 2010 following a short illness. John attended our Board meetings regularly, and contributed in a positive and cheerful way. He was also very supportive of other events that we organised. In addition to his role at Lancaster District CVS, John was a representative at the Citizens' Advice Bureaux and the West End Partnership. Our thoughts are with his family and friends.

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The Equality Act will become law from 1st October 2010. It replaces previous legislation such as the Race Relations Act and the Disability Discrimination Act. The Government Equalities Office has published a series of “Equality Act 2010: What do I need to know?” guides to the key changes, including several specifically for voluntary and community organisations. The guide for employers will help the voluntary and community sector with employment issues. The introduction of the act is intended to simplify the law, removing inconsistencies and making it easier for people to understand and comply with it. It aims to make it more consistent, clearer and easier to follow in order to make society fairer. The responsibilities of providers of goods, facilities or services in the voluntary and community sector remain largely the same, but there are some differences that providers need to be aware of. The Act applies to all organisations that provide a service to the public, or a section of the public. It also applies to anyone who sells goods or provides facilities such as community centres, information and advice agencies, charity shops, sports clubs,

internet-based services, and residential care homes and day care centres. It applies to all services, whether or not a charge is made for them. The Act protects the same groups of people that were covered by previous equality legislation. The characteristics covered are disability, gender reassignment, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex and sexual orientation. The different kinds of conduct that are prohibited under the Act are direct discrimination, association and perception, indirect discrimination, discrimination arising from disability, harassment – disability, gender reassignment, race or sex, harassment – religion or belief or sexual orientation and victimisation. Voluntary and community organisations that already have good equality procedures in place will not need to take much further action, however, they are advised to: • inform the staff and management committee of the new provisions, • review equality policies ensuring they cover all relevant protected characteristics, and consider whether staff need further training.

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More information, including guides for the sector, is available from www.equalities.gov.uk

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Lancaster and Morecambe Hindu Society President and Lancaster District CVS Trustee Harsha Shukla was recently nominated for the Social and Humanitarian Award at the 2010 Asian Women of Achievement (AWA) Awards. Though Harsha did not win the award, she said “I was honoured and extremely happy to be recognised for my work, and was inspired by the achievements of the other nominees”. As a result of Harsha’s nomination, she has been invited to Buckingham Palace. Harsha was shortlisted for working tirelessly to make sure the interests of ethnic minorities are considered and built into existing education systems within Lancashire. She is also a member of the Lancaster Faith Forum and a governor of Lancaster and Morecambe College.

A national award ceremony that has been running for over a decade, the AWA Awards champion the vibrant contributions Asian women are making to British life across the media, arts, business, science, medicine and the voluntary sector.

Harsha Shukla, pictured second right, with the Social and Humanitarian Award nominees at the 2010 Asian Women of Achievement Awards held recently in London

The programme from the 2010 Asian Women of Achievements Awards

Lancaster and Morecambe Hindu Society President Nominated for National Award

The Lancaster District Local Strategic Partnership (LDLSP) Team is now in place and looking forward to getting to work. Based at Palatine Hall in Dalton Square, the team of three will be supporting partners and other local organisations in delivering the Sustainable Community Strategy for the District. James Sommerville, the new LDLSP Manager, has arrived from Worcester in the West Midlands where he managed their strategic partnership. He comments: “I’m really excited to come to such a beautiful area of the country, and one that is so full of potential. Partnership working between organisations in all sectors is vital, especially in the current economic climate where we must work together if we are going to survive and deliver good things for local people.” Working with James are two LSP Coordinators - Kay Bowen and Harriet McNeela. Kay has a wealth of experience working in a senior administrative role at University of Cumbria, and Harriet has plenty of partnership knowledge having previously supported the local Community Safety Partnership. The team’s priorities are to establish excellent working relationships with local

organisations, especially those in the voluntary and community sectors, and to ensure that all of the partnership’s current projects are delivered as effectively as possible. In 2011, the team will be looking to expand the partnership and to give more opportunities for local organisations to get involved. They will also be updating the Sustainable Community Strategy to give the district a clear vision and priorities for the future, and working with the partnership to minimise the impact of any budget cuts. “We want to ensure everyone who cares about Lancaster District has an opportunity to get involved in the strategic partnership” say James. “We already have a great working relationship with the CVS team and through them are hoping to build links with other organisations in the local area. We would be delighted to hear from anyone who has thoughts, ideas and suggestions - our door is always open and we’re very partial to tea and cake so you’re sure to get a warm welcome!” You can contact the team by e-mail on lancasterdistrictlsp@lancaster.gov.uk, by telephone on (01524) 582 588 or visit their website www.lancaster.gov.uk/lsp.

The new team for the Lancaster District Local Strategic Partnership James Sommerville, Harriet McNeela and Kay Bowen

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A screenshot of the new website and its navigation in action (above) and the website as it was (right)

www.lancastercvs.org.uk

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Lancaster District CVS is pleased to announce the launch of its redesigned website, part of the organisational redesign that began many months ago with our new logo. The simple and clean website has been designed in-house and includes new features, including the ability to use a built-in search form. With the new site, we hope to make navigating and finding relevant information much easier. The website’s home address remains the same as it was, but if you have bookmarks leading to specific pages within the old website, it is likely that these will have changed. To begin with such pages will remain active, though they will soon be redirected to the relevant location in the new site. The website has been successfully tested with the latest versions of many web browsers, but if you experience any difficulties - please contact kevingoodall@lancastercvs.org.uk.

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The work of the Wildlife Trust for Lancashire, Manchester and North Merseyside has always been focussed on preserving and promoting our wildlife heritage, and a new project based at the new Middleton Nature Reserve sees an expansion of their work in North Lancashire.

The Mudpack project aims to provide volunteer opportunities for 16-25 year olds in practical conservation work as well as training in community and educational work. Participants have the chance to further their knowledge of this unusual site and it’s wildlife and help engage with the local community through the use of a variety of multimedia technologies and web based social networking sites.

This fantastic opportunity has been made possible through funding from the Lancashire Environmental Fund (LEF) and their ‘Dirtworks’ programme.

Despite the varied history of this post industrial site, it is now starting to revert back to nature and is already proving to be an excellent place for wildlife. The Trust are currently managing some of the key habitats as well as starting to develop the site for the future and are keen to involve younger members of the local community in this exciting project. There is more than one way of getting involved, including opportunities for those who want to get stuck in and get their hands dirty or helping with monitoring and recording the work and wildlife at the site. The great outdoors provides the opportunity to do hands on practical conservation work. If participants like to take things a little easier and would like to gain species identification skills, then monitoring will open up a whole new world. If they feel filming and producing a podcast is more of a challenge then these opportunities are also available.

Helping with Mudpack events will encourage confidence and enable volunteers to gain valuable communication skills, which will then help to inspire those families that attend. As participants gain knowledge about the site, they can combine this with helping to produce an interpretation sign and a leaflet for the reserve. Workshops are available to show how events are organised, how interpretation material is composed and how using the skills gained, will give volunteers the satisfaction of helping promote and conserve the reserve for present and future generations. The events Mudpack put on include: • Guided walks • Bat evenings • Mini beast hunts • Grassland management volunteering days • Workshops

For more information about the Mudpack workshops and volunteering opportunities email volunteer@lancswt.org.uk or call (01772) 324129 Dirtworks is a funding programme supported by Lancashire Environmental Fund aimed at encouraging young people (16-25 year olds) to volunteer on practical projects that will improve a greenspace for the benefit themselves and others in the local community and the environment. For further information about Lancashire Environmental Fund contact Anne Kingston, Communications Officer at LEF, by calling (01772) 317248, emailing annekingston@lancsenvfund.org.uk or visiting www.lancsenvfund.org.uk.

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Thumbprint, a Lancaster-based organisation working to support people with learning difficulties to set up and run their own projects, was recently awarded £2,000 of funding from Community Grants. Community Grants is a small grant scheme designed to assist groups in the Lancaster District to undertake small projects that enable local people to take part in community activities. The funding will be used to pay a project worker to carry out work on a project called ‘Fragments’ which uses broken tiles to create custom made house signs. The core aim of is to support the people with learning difficulties involved in developing Fragments as a social enterprise. This means generating the project’s systems and

learning how best to market the product as well as gaining the skills needed to produce a high quality end product. The project worker will work one day per week with the group over six months. By the end of this time, the aim is to have the systems in place for Fragments to start to trade and for the project members to have built the skills needed to create good quality signs to order. Once up and running, Fragments will be able to cover its costs – with sales of the items covering materials and other overheads. The aim is that it will generate a surplus which will generate an income for the people with learning difficulties involved. To commission a custom made mosaic contact mail@thumb.org.uk.

Fragments

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Welfare Grants Lancaster City Council

Miscellaneous Grants

Morecambe Town Council

Lancaster City Council are now accepting applications for their Welfare Grants. The council makes contributions of up to £500 to voluntary organisations which provide meals, outings and recreation for older people. The grant is paid into the organisation's bank account when they receive receipts for the activity that the grant was awarded for. You will be expected to submit your receipts in order to claim your grant. For further information or questions about welfare grants, the application process, or the criteria applied to the welfare grants scheme email welfaregrants@lancaster.gov.uk or telephone (01524) 582096.Application forms and further information are available from the Town Halls or can be downloaded from the council's website (see below). The closing date for applications is Tuesday 30th November 2010.

www.lancaster.gov.uk/welfaregrants

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Morecambe Town Council is offering grants of up to £500 to projects or services based in Morecambe. The grant will be subject to the full amount being raised from other sources should the project costs be more than that awarded. Organisations or individuals whose activities are of direct benefit to the residents of Morecambe and who wish to be considered for a grant in the 2010/11 financial year should request an application form from Morecambe Town Council via telephone (01524) 422929 or email clerk@morecambe.gov.uk. The closing date for completed application forms is Friday 24th September 2010.

Lancaster District CVS Funding Fair

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Thursday 14th October 2010, 10.00am-3.00pm Hornby Village Institute, Hornby, Lancaster, LA2 8JR The Lancaster District CVS Funding Fair will provide local voluntary and community groups with the opportunity to meet with local, regional and national funders to discuss your funding needs. There will be an invaluable opportunity to engage in pre-booked one-to-one discussions with local and national funders to discuss potential projects, including The Galbraith Trust, Francis C Scott Trust, Nat Merriman Fund, Small Sparks, Green Partnership Award, Groundwork, Foundation Climate Fund, Heritage Lottery Fund, Lancashire Young People’s Service, Grant Finder, Community Grants, Duchy of Lancaster, Charity Bank and Children in Need. Presentations will include Lancashire Environmental Fund, Co-op Community Fund and Awards for All. Cost: £5 per delegate (includes lunch) For bookings and further information, please email hannahbland@lancastercvs.org.uk or call (01524) 555900 extension 26.

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Applications to volunteer at the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games opened on Wednesday 15th September 2010. Being a volunteer at the Games does not necessarily mean having to go to London – there will be venues across the UK, the nearest being in Manchester. There will be two categories of volunteer: Generalists Generalists will make up the majority of Games Makers – you won't need specialist skills or qualifications, but you should bring passion and enthusiasm to the Games. Specialists Specialist Games Makers will need specialist skills or qualifications in order to fulfil their role, such as sport or medical training. These Games Makers will be made up of doctors, nurses, sports specialists, anti-doping officers and press operations staff. Applicants must be willing to volunteer for a minimum of 10 days at either the Olympic Games or the Paralympic Games; or for a minimum of 20 days if you want to volunteer at both.

www.london2012.com/get-involved/volunteer

London 2012 Games Makers

Shopmobility Service Resumes in the District

Council leader Stuart Langhorn, Jo Williams (Project Manager of One Voice), Steve Wright (Wrightcare Mobility), Julia Reay (Lonsdale Carers) and Natalie Jones (volunteer) celebrate the start of the new Lancaster and Morecambe Shopmobility service

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Lancaster City Council has teamed up with local organisation One Voice to bring back the popular Shopmobility service. The service will be operating from The Cornerstone in Dalton Square on Wednesdays and Fridays from 9.30am to 4.00pm, and from the Cartmel Centre in Morecambe on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9.30am to 4.00pm. To ensure that equipment can be guaranteed please call Lancaster and Morecambe Shopmobility to book on (01524) 382764. For more information on the service visit www.lmshopmob.org.uk.

Training & Events

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NCBI Lancashire To book onto either of the NCBI Lancashire workshops listed below, call (01524) 421488 or email lizn@ncbi.org.uk.. Welcoming Diversity and Prejudice Reduction Workshop Friday 24th September 2010 This one-day workshop examines the issues that separate and divide people and starts the process of building bridges across difference. Practical tools are taught with the opportunity for practice, enabling participants to more easily identify and challenge unfair treatment, prejudice and discrimination. Cost: £10-£75 Conflict Resolution Workshop. Saturday 16th October 2010. This interactive half day workshop is useful for any level of conflict both personal and organisational. It examines the roots of conflict and identifies strategies for dealing with it. Using examples from the group, practical tools are taught, enabling participants to feel more empowered when faced with conflict. Cost: £7-£50

Young Lancashire PQASSO Thursday October 14th 2010 This free event will cover an explanation of what PQASSO is, how it works, and how Young Lancashire can support organisations who wish to work through the framework to achieve the self assessed quality standard. Participants will also receive a free handbook. For more information or to book, call (01772) 556127 or email supportservices@younglancashire.org.uk.

Workers' Educational Association Folk to Folk Thursdays from 23rd September 2010 (10 evening meetings) This course aims to teach acoustic ensemble playing, learning a varied repetoire of folk tunes and focus on playing for dance. The course covers arranging folk tunes and improvisation techniques. It is aimed at the intermediate level of any acoustic instrument. For more information about the course or to make a booking, call (0151) 243 5340. Cost: £0-£45

For information about the training and events organised by Lancaster District CVS, see the booklet that came with this issue of

The Hub, which is also available from www.lancastercvs.org.uk/trainingandevents.

In addition to all of the free services Lancaster District CVS has traditionally offered, we have now launched an expanded range of services, for which there will be a charge, including: • Bookkeeping • Payroll • Preparation and Independent Examination

of Accounts • Project Management and Project Hosting • Employment / Mentoring • Annual Accounts These services are provided by our own in house staff, so we understand the needs of small and medium sized voluntary and community organisations Discounted rates are available for members, and prices are tiered depending on the size of your organisation and requirements Contact us for a tailored quote via telephone (01524) 555900 or email mail@lancastercvs.org.uk For more information see the full publication at www.lancastercvs.org.uk/services.pdf